Russia-owned pipeline operator challenges EU gas rules

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BERLIN (AP) — The company building a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is asking a European Union court to annul changes made this year to an EU gas directive on the grounds that they discriminate against the project.

The changes introduced in April extended the rules governing the EU’s internal gas market to pipelines to and from other countries. Those rules include ensuring that a gas producer isn’t also the sole operator of a pipeline.

Nord Stream 2, owned by Russia’s Gazprom, said Friday that it has asked the EU’s General Court to annul the amendment to the directive, alleging that it “was clearly designed and adopted for the purpose of disadvantaging and discouraging the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”

The pipeline is opposed by eastern European countries and the U.S.

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